COOPERATIVE LAW - AN INSTRUMENT FOR DEVELOPMENT

Postulating that a healthy cooperative movement can make a powerful contribution to national development, the author examines what sort of legislative provisions best serve the cooperative cause. Failure of the highly restrictive ''state-control'' model adopted by many post-colonial countries suggests that legislation should confine itself to establishing basic principles, leaving detailed regulation to the cooperatives' own by-laws. He proceeds to discuss the necessary ingredients of an appropriate law, which should cover both the traditional and more innovative types of cooperative. These relate, inter alia, to the role of the Registrar, possible privileges for cooperatives, their organization and management, audits, share capital, higher-level cooperatives and dispute settlement. He ends with a plea for cooperators to be involved in the law-making process.